Diaz, H. F., 1996: Temperature changes on long time and large spatial
scales: Inferences from instrumental and proxy records. In Climatic
Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years, P. D. Jones, R.
S. Bradley, and J. Jouzel (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, 585-601.

ABSTRACT

The capability of various sets of individual and regional surface temperature
indices to represent hemispheric- to global-scale averages on decadal to
century timescales is evaluated. It is shown that on time scales ranging from
intraseasonal to decadal, the principal modes of temperature variability in the
atmosphere at the surface and in the lower troposphere are consistently of very
large spatial extent. Analyses of the sea surface temperature field also
indicates the presence of large spatial modes on interannual to decadal
timescales. It is suggested that temperature signals at longer timescales,
e.g., periods of the order 10-100 years, may be reproducible, at least in
broad outline, from a relatively small suite of high-resolution, high-quality
paleotemperature records, which are themselves sensitive to climatic
fluctuations at long temporal and large spatial scales.